The present invention relates to a receptacle for the storage of fluid and fluid-like cosmetic products and other products of the type conveniently applied by means of a wand, brush or equivalent applicator. More particularly, the invention is directed to an elongated, integrally-formed, unitary plastic storage and dispensing container which includes in a zone intermediate the receptacle's mouth and the product-retaining storage reservoir of the receptacle a lineal zone coaxial with the receptacle but materially constricted radially to define an interior passage for limiting and controlling discharge and removal of products stored in the container base or reservoir of the receptacle.
Receptacles for dispensing fluid and fluid-like products with the aid of elongated applicators or wands are well-known. Applicator devices have been used in various forms including rods, rods with end beads, rods carrying brushes, wires, spring-like bars, and platelets. Such applicator structures find utility in applying medicinals, nail polish compositions, liquids used in stenographic procedures, mascara formulations and many other and varied products.
The product storage receptacles for such use have taken many and diverse physical forms and have been made using different manufacturing methods and techniques. Plastic containers which include an internal restricted passage for controlling and regulating the removal of the contents of the receptacle are also known. Invariably, however, such plastic receptacles have been made by assembly from a plurality of distinct, separate parts. In some instances auxiliary inserts have been used to achieve the desired interior structure. In other arrangements the several separate parts have been cemented or fused to one another to produce the arrangement sought, including a restricted interior passage for controlling removal of the wand-carried material from the storage reservoir of the receptacle.
The mechanical assembly of receptacles from multiple components is a time-consuming and costly procedure, as is the introduction of press-fit or cemented inserts. Moreover, the multiple molds and molding operations involved further add to the overall cost. It is, therefore, a principal aim of the present invention to obviate the shortcomings of prior art receptacles of the general type involved and to provide a unitary, integrally-formed, molded plastic receptacle devoid of separate, multiple elements or auxiliary inserts, and which includes features, including a markedly restricted metering passage, not heretofore present in a unitary, molded plastic structure which has an elongated body defining a product reservoir having a large diameter as compared with that of the limiting constriction.
Specifically, there is herein provided an integrally formed, unitary receptacle having a limiting, restricted entry port to the vessel proper and in which the length dimension of the reservoir of the receptacle exceeds by a factor greater than ten the internal diameter of the restricted port or limiting passage. No such structure has heretofore been known in the art.